Ohio Federation of Teachers
| Full name | Ohio Federation of Teachers |
|---|---|
| Founded | May 26, 1933 |
| Members | 20,000 |
| Head union | AFT |
| Affiliation | AFT, AFL-CIO |
| Key people | Sue Taylor, president |
| Office location | Columbus, Ohio |
| Country | United States |
| Website | http://oh.aft.org/ |
The Ohio Federation of Teachers (OFT) is a statewide federation of unions in Ohio, affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), AFL-CIO.
The OFT represents more than 20,000 members in 54 local unions. Its members include public education employees, higher education faculty and support staff, and public employees. Most of its membership is in the larger cities, such as Cincinnati, Cleveland and Toledo.
In 1933, the officers of the American Federation of Teachers met in Springfield, Ohio. The AFT was debating structural changes to the national organization, and had decided to experiment with state federations as legislative, lobbying, political and organizing umbrella bodies for the union's growing number of local affiliates. Ohio was selected to be the first test case.
On May 26, 1934, the Ohio State Federation of Teachers (as the OFT was originally known) met in convention was in Springfield. Irvin Kuenzli, president of the Springfield Federation of Teachers, was elected the organization's first president. (Kuenzli would become the AFT's secretary-treasurer from 1936 to 1953.) The state federation's office was in Toledo.
Whether the OFT was the first "official" state federation within the AFT is a matter of debate. In 1936, the OFT established a dues system for local affiliates, becoming the first self-funding, staffed state federation in the AFT. However, the OFT was not formally chartered by AFT until February 26, 1938—after charters were issued in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Pennsylvania. But the unofficial establishment date, along with the establishment of a dues structure, has led the OFT to claim to be the first "active" state federation in the AFT.
With Kuenzli's departure in 1936, E. Glenn Baxter of the Elyria Federation of Teachers became OFT president, and the first president elected under the new charter. Michael Eck of the Cleveland Teachers Union was the first executive secretary (he also served as an AFT vice president).
At this time, the OFT had 5,000 members in 13 locals. Since the AFT only had 25,000 members nationally, one in five AFT members belonged to OFT.
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